1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing, and more particularly, to a method for generating a high quality up-scaled image, and to an associated device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
According to the related art, a conventional video playback device can perform an up-scaling operation on an original image to generate a high resolution image, and more particularly, an image having a resolution that is higher than the original resolution (i.e. the resolution of the original image). Typically, when generating a new pixel in the horizontal direction, the conventional video playback device only utilize the original pixels at the left and right sides of the new pixel as reference pixels. As a result, regarding some image contents of the original image, the high resolution image generated by the conventional video playback device looks unreal since the original image inherently does not include complete image information required for generating the high resolution image.
When the conventional video playback device generates the high resolution image, a problem of generating a great amount of erroneous image information may occur. There are some solutions proposed by the related art in response to this problem, for trying to improve the image quality. However, no matter which solution is chosen, a corresponding side effect typically exists. For example, utilizing a complicated algorithm may cause hardware resources to be insufficient. In another example, utilizing a hardware circuit equipped with increased calculation capability may cause the overall cost to be too high. Therefore, a novel method is required for improving the quality of the high resolution image.